In Latvia, grocery low price baskets often lack part of the product categories provided for in the memorandum, the Consumer Rights Protection Center (CRPC) reported to the LETA agency, citing monitoring data on the implementation of the memorandum on food prices and the content of low price baskets, LETA writes.
The institution explains that the memorandum provides for the inclusion of at least one product from each of the ten main food categories in the low price basket. These include bread, milk, cheese, cottage cheese, butter, sour cream, yogurt, buttermilk, fresh vegetables and fruits, pork, poultry, beef and veal, lamb and goat meat, fresh fish, eggs, flour and other grains, as well as vegetable oils. However, observations show that complete coverage of categories is rarely achieved in practice.
Monitoring over 32 weeks showed that supermarket chains included an average of seven out of the ten specified categories in their low price baskets. This figure has remained unchanged for a long time and, according to the Consumer Rights Protection Center (CRPC), is inadequate. The number of covered categories in different retail chains varies from four to nine depending on the assortment.
CRPC Director Zaiga Liepiņa notes that for the low price basket to effectively serve residents, it must include at least one product from each category specified in the memorandum.
"Unfortunately, we see that the coverage of categories is still incomplete, and this limits consumers' ability to purchase essential products at the lowest price on a daily basis," she stated.
At the same time, Liepiņa urges retailers to ensure not only formal compliance with the requirements but also a broader assortment in each category, thereby enabling households to prepare complete meals using products from the low price basket and reducing expenses. She also emphasizes the need for clear and unambiguous labeling of low price basket products in retail locations so that consumers can easily identify them.
The CRPC Director added that the center will continue to monitor the situation to ensure the goals of the memorandum are met.
The CRPC notes that milk and dairy products, especially cottage cheese and yogurt, as well as bread, predominantly white, and butter, most often rapeseed oil, are most frequently included in the offerings. Wheat flour and buckwheat groats follow. These products form the "core" of the low price basket and are offered by retailers most consistently.
Fish, fruits, berries, and vegetables included in the memorandum's coverage are less frequently found in the baskets. Their availability in the baskets increased during the season, but now they are encountered less often. Eggs are often absent from the basket. The rarest categories include, for example, buttermilk, lingonberries, cranberries, and whole grain flour. Lamb has never been offered, the institution noted.
The CRPC observes that retailers are increasingly including additional products not mentioned in the memorandum in the low price baskets. This approach is viewed positively as it expands choices for consumers and allows retailers to respond more flexibly to their needs. However, these additional products are not accounted for in the official compliance data and are not considered in the assessment of conformity.
The center also emphasizes that it will continue regular and thorough monitoring of low price baskets, evaluating category coverage, price levels, basket availability, communication at retail points and online, as well as the share of local products.
As reported, on May 27 of last year, Minister of Economics Viktors Valainis, then Executive Director of the Latvian Food Traders Association Noris Kruziitis, former Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Jānis Endziņš, Chairman of the Board of the Central Union of Dairy Farmers of Latvia Jānis Šolks, Chairman of the Board of the Agricultural Organizations Cooperation Council Guntis Gutmanis, Chairwoman of the Latvian Food Enterprises Federation Inara Šure, Chairman of the Board of the "Zemnieku saeima" society Jūris Lazdiņš, Liepiņa, and other partners signed a memorandum to reduce food prices.
The goal set by the Ministry of Economics was to reduce prices for the most essential groups of food products by 20% and to increase the share of Latvian products in stores.
The memorandum provides for the introduction of a low price basket, the implementation of a price comparison tool, and the increase of the share of locally produced goods in retail chains.
In particular, the creation of a low price basket implies that in ten product categories, at least one product with the lowest price in the category must be ensured in each, with products being regularly replaced by others from the same category.
